Lt Col Shaffer also said that the "Pentagon wanted to shut this off until after the election", because it was "more bad news". Major congressional elections are being held on Nov 2.

In a statement, the Pentagon said it "decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security". The books were destroyed on Sep 20.

The few copies of the book that managed to evade the Pentagon's dragnet are now being exchanged for up to $2,000 on the internet.

Lt Col Shaffer has since agreed to a redacted version of the book, which is released this week. He has said that though the Defence Department promised "surgical" censorship the book has been substantially redacted throughout its 300 pages with black marks replacing words or passages deemed unacceptable.

"When you look at what they took out, it's lunacy," he said.

An early line in the book reads: "Here I was in Afghanistan (redaction). My job: to run the Defence Intelligence Agency's operations out of (redaction) the hub for U.S. operations in country."

It comes as the Watergate journalist,Bob Woodward, publishes his book Obama's Wars, which shines a light on the in-fighting between top officials that threatened to tear the White House apart.